hello world
i downloaded an svg file somewhere and while playing around with I found out that there were kind of "linked groups"
when I manipulated one node, the opposite node moved to.
I am not so new to inkscape but this one confused me a bit, don t know how this achieved..
I would appreciate someone explain me how this is done
thanks in advance

The left half of that image is a Group of 5. The identical but horizontally flipped objects on the right are a clone of the group on the left. You can find this out, and find out many things about the objects you have selected, by looking at the status bar.

When you select something with the Selection tool, the status bar will always tell you what kind of object it is. The status bar displays different info, depeding on which tool you're using, and what you do on the canvas.

Try this. Select the group on the left, and Ungroup it. Then look at the status bar to find out about the objects in that group! You can see that that group consists of paths, other groups, and other clones.

So you can see that this is one easy way to create symmetrical objects. You just have to edit the parents, and the symmetry is automatically creates in the clones. You can break the clones' link to their parents on Edit menu > Clone > Unlink clone, if you don't want them to be clones. Or there's a button on the command bar, and there's probably a key shortcut too.

I'm not sure if this has happened on the canvas, but without checking the XML Editor, it seems to have. In general, it's not a good idea to have nested clones -- which means a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone, etc. You should clone an object, then deselect the clone, and reselect the original object, and clone again. (Or use Tile Clones dialog.)

Anyway, that's the story when editing one of the originals edits its clone too. There are some other features of Inkscape that are clone-like (speaking in a general way, and not technically, ~suv). For example, Linked Offsets, shared gradients.

The manual contains a wealth of info for almost everything about Inkscape. The manual can be found in the Help menu > Inkscape manual (with internet connection).

Hi.

That was made by grouping two objects together:
a group of five paths, and a clone of this group of five objects.

(There is also an object with white fill too.)


Edit: oh a bit late on this one? Anyway, links to the manual are provided.

thanks that was very informative, in fact I almost never pay attention to status bar but I really should
now by adding a couple of stars, rectangle and a circle
their "mirrors" came up at the right side of the canvas.....so I start to think I activated a mirror feature that i dont know about.. or are these these clones??
y

You managed to add the new objects into the same group, which was already a clone. Click once on an empty area of the canvas to deselect everything, before you start to draw, and you will not add to that group.

yep .. you re right
thanks a bunch mister
what a wonderful program,isn t it?
have a nice day and thank you again

Part 29 of my tutorial series covers exactly this use of groups and clones to produce symmetric or kaleidoscopic effects - but you might want to read part 28 first to get more of an introduction to clones in general. You can find links to the whole series here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11981

brynn wrote:In general, it's not a good idea to have nested clones -- which means a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone, etc. You should clone an object, then deselect the clone, and reselect the original object, and clone again.

Brynn's right that it's not usually a good idea to have nested clones (there are exceptions though). However a simpler approach than re-selecting the original each time, especially if you want to make lots of copies, is to duplicate an existing clone. So to create multiple clones from an original:

1) Select the original
2) ALT-D to create a clone. The clone is now selected.
3) CTRL-D to duplicate the clone. Each duplicate is just a first-level clone to the original.
4) Repeat (3) for as many clones as you want.